Government inks labour deal on entry of Moroccan workers

  • Lusa
  • 13 January 2022

The agreement was signed during a videoconference by the Portuguese Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, and the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita.

Portugal and Morocco have signed an agreement on the hiring and stay of Moroccan workers in accordance with the national legal system and with equal rights and obligations with Portuguese workers.

The agreement was signed during a videoconference by the Portuguese Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, and the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita.

“The aim is to continue building the real alternative to trafficking and illegal migration, which is regular legal, safe, orderly migration channels,” Augusto Santos Silva said.

The negotiation of this agreement was announced by the government after cases began to emerge at the end of 2019 of Moroccans trying to land illegally on the Algarve coast, raising suspicions of a new illegal migration route.

The agreement will allow Moroccans to work in Portugal in “strict conformity with the legal system and on equal rights and obligations with Portuguese workers”, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“It means having their rights and protection guaranteed here,” Augusto Santos Silva said.

The agreement also guarantees “Portuguese companies that need labour another place for such recruitment,” through the “joint work of the employment services of Portugal and Morocco and in absolutely legal and absolutely dignified conditions.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the agreement means that Portugal and Morocco “converge in the interest of combating illegal immigration and human trafficking” within the framework of the Global Migration Pact, adopted by the UN in Marrakesh in 2018.

The agreement “resulted from a multi-sectoral coordination effort in both countries and has great political scope by allowing the deepening of the historic and fruitful bilateral relationship, through the promotion and protection of the dignity and human rights of migrant workers,” the ministry added in the statement.

The agreement will still have to be ratified in each of the countries.

Augusto Santos Silva noted that this agreement follows an identical one signed with India, as well as other initiatives related to mobility.

He highlighted that Portugal was one of the members of the Ibero-American Conference that signed the framework convention on talent mobility and that the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) signed a mobility agreement that came into force this month, having achieved more than three ratifications.

“The year 2021 was quite fruitful from the point of view of mobility agreements signed by Portugal,” said the minister, noting that the agreement now signed with Morocco was negotiated in recent months.